It is a flat, dry, agricultural city, where we cultivate latume under plastic and silence. Torre-Pacheco, 40,000 inhabitants, including 30 % of foreign origin (for most Moroccans), lives to the rhythm of the industrial greenhouses of the Cartagena Campo in the Murcia region. The workforce is foreign, often illegal. Tensions have become local.
In mid-July, at dawn, Domingo, a 68-year-old retiree, walks along the Torre-Pacheco cemetery. It is a little over six hours. Three young people appear without warning. One of them throws himself on him and strikes him violently with the head, in the face, to the body.
A brutal act, free
The attackers, of North African origin, are quickly identified. One is arrested in the Basque Country as he tries to cross the French border. No flight. No exchange. Just a brutal, free act, probably filmed.
The police evoke a “Challenge on social networks” targeting the elderly and vulnerable. The photo of Domingo, the swollen face, goes around the media. A video of another aggression, unrelated, circulates in parallel on the internet and still ignites a little more spirits.
In this city saturated with contrasts, the wick was on. From 12 to 14 July, groups are formed, without badge, without chief. The first demonstrations are spontaneous and are the result of inhabitants exasperated by flights and insecurity. « Torre-Pacheco, sans violence, sans crime »said the first banners. Before the situation degenerates. Without political supervision, local groups, often ultras of football clubs – sometimes armed with sticks – crisscrossed the streets, sought after and then faced with migrants. The Guardia Civil deploys dozens of agents. Five people are injured in police dispersions with rubber bullets.
Yes, people outside Torre-Pacheco have benefited. Yes, scuffles have broken out. Alas! Because, for the Spanish left media, the cause was heard: the citizen fed up was actually a racist insurrection.
More than 60,000 irregular arrivals in 2024
Far from being isolated, this sequence nevertheless finds its framework: in 2024, Spain recorded 63,970 irregular arrivals, mainly via the Canary Islands (a record). This flow does not only create tensions. It generates silent, often deaf reactions in outdoor radars.
Central authorities do not ignore it. The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, condemned violence, denounced “Calls to hatred relayed on Telegram »And pointed out “Irresponsible speeches” Emanating from organizations such as the Vox party or the conservative pressure group Citizengo. Practical.
The result of an accumulated resentment
The explosion is not only the consequence of this free assault. It is the result of an accumulated resentment: the state deploys hotels without public debate, distributes migrants without listening to cities, leaves entire areas to unspecled migratory dynamics.
In this corner of Spain, where tens of thousands of seasonal workers live and work undocumented, weariness is no longer a whisper. Faced with the silence of the public authorities, exasperation becomes a reflex.